ActivityWatch
Automatically track how you spend time on your devices.
ActivityWatch vs Kimai
Two self-hosted Time Tracking apps, compared on the facts we track: GitHub popularity and activity, license, language, Docker images and a rough hosting estimate.
Side by side
| ActivityWatch | Kimai | |
|---|---|---|
| Description | Automatically track how you spend time on your devices. | Track work time and print out a summary of your activities on demand. |
| GitHub stars | 19,506 | 5,137 |
| Forks | – | – |
| Open issues | – | – |
| Commits (12 months) | 189 | 258 |
| Last activity | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-04 |
| Latest release | v0.14.1 (2026-10-10) | 2.71.0 (2026-10-25) |
| Maintenance health | Active | Active |
| License | MPL-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language / platform | Python | PHP |
| Docker Hub image | – | – |
| Docker pulls | – | – |
| Est. server size | ~1 GB, 1 vCPU | ~1 GB, 1 vCPU |
| Est. hosting from | $5/mo | $5/mo |
| Categories | Time Tracking | Time Tracking |
| Links | Website · Source | Website · Source |
What the numbers say
- ActivityWatch is more popular on GitHub: 19.5k stars vs 5.1k for Kimai.
- Kimai had more commits in the last 12 months (258 vs 189).
- Kimai published a release more recently (2.71.0 on 2026-10-25; ActivityWatch's latest is v0.14.1 on 2026-10-10).
- ActivityWatch is licensed under MPL-2.0, Kimai under AGPL-3.0.
- ActivityWatch is written in Python; Kimai in PHP.
Summary: ActivityWatch leads on GitHub popularity; Kimai leads on commit activity. The right choice depends on the features you need — read both project descriptions and docs.
This summary is generated from GitHub, Docker Hub and awesome-selfhosted data as of 2026-11-05. It does not rate features or quality.
Frequently asked questions
Is ActivityWatch or Kimai more popular?
ActivityWatch has more GitHub stars (19,506 vs 5,137 for Kimai, as of 2026-11-05). Stars measure interest, not quality.
Which is more actively maintained, ActivityWatch or Kimai?
Kimai had more commits over the last 12 months (258 vs 189). Both had repository activity on 2026-11-04. Our health labels: ActivityWatch is “Active”, Kimai is “Active”.
What licenses do ActivityWatch and Kimai use?
ActivityWatch: MPL-2.0. Kimai: AGPL-3.0.
Can I run ActivityWatch and Kimai with Docker?
We did not detect a Docker Hub image for either app. Check each project's documentation for install options.
Read more
Kimai
Track work time and print out a summary of your activities on demand.
Browse all self-hosted Time Tracking apps.